Oil rises, natural gas soars

The price of oil rose 1 percent Thursday as stockpiles declined and new indications that demand is rising in the U.S., the world’s largest crude consumer.

The price of natural gas soared nearly 5 percent to close at $4.46 per thousand cubic feet — the highest price since July of 2011 — after the government reported a huge draw in supplies, the result of cold temperatures across the U.S. in recent weeks.

Benchmark U.S. crude for January delivery rose 97 cents to close at $98.77 a barrel. Brent crude for February delivery, a benchmark used to price international crudes used by many U.S. refiners, rose 66 cents to close at $110.29.

The average U.S. retail price for a gallon of gasoline fell less than a penny to $3.21 per gallon, according to AAA, OPIS and Wright Express. Gasoline has fallen four cents in the past week, and it is three cents less than it was a year ago. In Houston Thursday, the average price was $3.053 a gallon, down from $3.056 Wednesday.

Oil prices rose despite a decision Wednesday by the U.S. Federal Reserve to reduce its stimulus spending, which analysts believe will eventually lead to lower oil prices. A reduction in stimulus spending increases the value of the dollar compared with other currencies. That makes commodities such as oil, which are priced in dollars, more expensive and less attractive.

“A stronger U.S. dollar will play against commodities and will add to price pressure from the well-supplied oil picture for 2014,” said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland, noting that some investors had put money into oil futures exclusively because of the Fed’s stimulus measures. “On the basis of investment flows and of the U.S. dollar, we therefore take the tapering as a negative input for oil prices in 2014.”

But the Fed reduced stimulus because the U.S. economy is improving, and that may increase demand for gasoline and diesel. The Fed announcement “conjured up images of an improving U.S. economy capable of standing on its own sooner than generally expected,” said energy analyst Jim Ritterbusch in a report.

The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, said oil deliveries, a measure of demand, rose 4.9 percent in November. The U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday crude oil supplies fell by 2.9 million barrels last week.

In other energy futures trading:
— Wholesale gasoline rose 4.3 cents to close at $2.740 a gallon.
— Heating oil rose 1.8 cents to close at $3.025 a gallon.

About Fuel Fix

FuelFix.com is your daily must-read source for news and analysis on the energy business. Anchored by business reporters at the Houston Chronicle and other Hearst Newspapers, Fuel Fix incorporates blogs by energy experts, market updates, useful data and a real-time summary of the top ideas, hottest stories and latest news in the oil, gas and energy industries.

Browse previous blog posts by month and year of entry. You'll see all the posts for that time period.